THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410050104
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Chatterbox is a not-quite-newsy look behind the scenes from City Hall to City Park.
HIGH VISIBILITY: Bismarck Myrick, the Portsmouth native who serves as U.S. consul general in Cape Town, South Africa, is twice pictured in the August issue of Ebony magazine, a special issue on the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first black chief executive that put an end to 342 years of apartheid in South Africa.
A photo of Myrick is included in ``Speaking of People'' in the front of the magazine. He appears again in picture accompanying a story, ``15 Days That Shook the World,'' about Mandela's election. Myrick was one of five men on the official U.S. observer team led by the Rev. Jessie Jackson.
Raised in in Jeffry Wilson, a public housing complex, Myrick joined the U.S. Army in 1959 after graduating from I.C. Norcom and qualified for officers' training school. After 20 years, he retired as a major with a chest full of medals and three degrees.
Since 1980, his assignments for the State Department have included several hot spots: Somalia, Liberia and South Africa. He also was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Geneva Nuclear Testing Talks and served as the department's deputy director for policy in South America and the Caribbean before going to South Africa four years ago.
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? When it comes to time, business moves a lot faster than government.
Recently Chatterbox noted that the downtown public clocks at both Commerce Bank and City Hall Plaza were not keeping correct time.
The item was printed on a Sunday. Commerce Bank's clocks were reset that Monday.
But, alas, two weeks have passed and the city clock still isn't running on time.
WHERE'D ALL THE PEOPLE GO? Public Utilities Director Jim Spacek scheduled two meetings last week to talk to community activists about the importance of the upcoming utility bond referendum in November.
Nobody came, he said.
``People just take water for granted here,'' Spacek said. ``They just aren't as interested in talking about water as they would be if they hadn't been able to wash their cars for months.''
City Council voted to permit the referendum to finance $22.9 million in the city's water and sewer systems by selling ``double barrel'' bonds that will be paid back by the systems but backed by the city.
If the referendum fails to pass, Spacek said he will have to rely on regular revenue bonds, which will cost water and sewer customers more money.
``The question is not whether the work will be done, since most of it is required,'' he said. ``The question is what is the cheapest way to finance it.''
HANGING IN HERE: Former Police Chief Leslie Martinez hasn't given up on the East Coast and still is seeking a job in this part of the country.
Martinez recently turned down a job as chief in St. Joseph, Mo., saying she wanted to explore possibilities on the East Coast.
Already retired from the Albuquerque, N.M. police force, she was Portsmouth chief for less than two years until she and City Manager V. Wayne Orton came to a parting of the ways.
Martinez continues to live in her home on Riverside Drive. by CNB